The 14 November
1983 is a very important day for me. On that day I bought my first computer. It
was a small pocket computer but it was a helpful computer. The main function of
that pocket computer was programming in BASIC language as in a desktop
computer.
When I was
younger all of my friends knew that my hobby was electronics, especially radio.
For that reason some may well ask how I got into computers? Really, it was my
friend at the office (Ali Q.). Without him maybe I would not have had computers
as a hobby until much later. My friend Ali was always saying to me when I
bought new electronic items "buy a computer it's better". As we know
the computer became famous in our country in early 1985, but in 1983 there were
maybe one or two shops selling computers at a very high price. When I was in
electronics shops I looked at machines that looked like calculators and checked
their manuals and I found that the machines did only scientific calculations.
For that reason I waited until 14 November 1983. I went to the shop that sold electronics products and I
asked to see their new products and I saw a Sharp pocket computer. I asked the salesman to show it to me and
after I checked the machine and its manual I found that it would help me to
learn about computers is. It was then that I bought my first computer.
The next day I
took the computer to the office and I showed it to my friend Ali. After he
looked at the small machine and its manual he said that it was good for a
beginner.
After less than
two months, I bought another computer and my friends knew that every month I
was buying a new electronic machine for myself and getting rid of old machines
by selling them to other people for half price. For this reason, on 1st January
1984, I bought a second computer. It was also pocket sized but from another
manufacturer (Casio) and with more
functions than the old one. On 1st March 1984 my friend Ali came back from
England and he brought with him a small computer called the Sinclair Spectrum. It had 16 kb. of
memory and it was a home computer where the display monitor was an ordinary
home TV.
With the Sinclair
computer I started my life with computers by reading the manual and entering
the examples into the machine. I spent a long time each day on that machine.
Some friends helped me to understand a lot of things and I began to use the
Casio pocket computer when I was outside the home. I remember that at this
time, I joined an institute that had opened to increase my computer knowledge,
but it did not help me much and after I spent 6 hours with them I left. My
advice is first try to study by your self, if you feel it's difficult then ask your friend about
a good institution.
As we know for
each computer there is optional equipment to increase the functions of the
computer. There is also software like business and games software. Because this
was not available in the U.A.E. at that time, I decided 2 months after
purchasing a Sinclair computer to travel with my family to London where I
bought a lot of hardware, software and books for the Sinclair computer. Two
weeks later, I returned home happy with the computer and all its options. Then
I started a new stage with the computer by spending a long time with my lovely
machine. Maybe people will think that I was spending my time playing computer
games but this is not true. I was entering program examples into the computer then editing them as I
liked. I would like to say that the personal computer is not built only for
playing games as many people think. For that reason the computer owner must
reorganize his time by not giving all his time to games software.
I'd like to
return to Casio computers to say that I benefitted from this machine especially
in the area of programming in BASIC language. I learned how to design my own
programs. Because of this when a new model of Casio pocket computer appeared on
the market I bought it to find out the difference between the new and the old
model because I like to learn everything about new technology in this world.
I stayed with the
Sinclair Spectrum a long time until I read in a magazine about an Arabic kit
for the Commodore 64 so I was interested in this machine. On 19 January 1985 I
called a computer shop in Abu Dhabi and I asked them about the Arabic kit for
Commodore 64 and I found that it was available. I informed my office mate
(Ahmad M.) who was also interested in electronics and computers. My friend
insisted on going to Abu Dhabi, so
we went and bought an Arabic kit without the computer machine and we returned
to Dubai.
A few days later
I bought the Commodore 64 and I
started my checking and testing but unfortunately I found that this computer
was not especially made for programming and the BASIC programming was not
standard. Because of that, after about 2 months, I advertised that I wanted to
sell the Commodore 64 in a local newspaper. I sold the Commodor 64 including
the printer and the floppy disk drive and I took a rest from the Commodor 64.
In May 1985 some
friends and I heard about MSX
computers (the Japanese computer system) and we found out that there was an
Arabic version in other Gulf countries. I started calling computer companies in
other Gulf countries and I found it in Qatar. A few days later I went to Doha
and I bought seven machines for myself and friends.
Again I started
reading books about the new computer and designing my personal programs in
BASIC.
In August 1985 I
started my computer business by opening a computer showroom in Sharjah and I
dealt first with local companies in the U.A.E. and Saudi Arabia. A few months
later I started importing IBM compatible
computers from Taiwan and I was the first one in the U.A.E. who advertised in
the local news about IBM compatible computers. Moreover I introduced the first
IBM compatible laptop computers to the U.A.E. market, by importing in the
summer of 1986 a laptop computer called Bondwell.
In January 1987
the Head of the State Audit Institution (where I work as a librarian) chose me
to join a computer course in the National Computer Center in Abu Dhabi. On that
course I learned about computers in general. I also studied how to program
using the COBOL programming language.
In March 1987 I closed my
computer showroom for many reasons, the main one being I was not free enough
for a business.
Now (1992) I have a desktop IBM AT (80386 - 40 MHZ) compatible
machine, with 4 megabyte random access memory and two 125 mb hard disk. I have
also added to my computer a Fax-Modem card, a hand-held scanner, a sound card
and a card to copy protected software.
Between 1983 and
1990 I traveled through many high technology countries ( U.K. - Japan -
Singapore - Hong Kong - Taiwan - U.S.A. ), to look at the latest technology in
the world and I also visited many computer fairs in Taiwan and Saudi Arabia.
I hope that you
have enjoyed my story with the computer.
Abdul
Qadir Almulla
23/04/1992